Road Trip
by illocust
Summary: Shiro talks Keith into going on a road trip to visit his family. Keith freak out a bit on the way.


_**In response to lilmissginge's tumbler prompt " are you still interested in a prompt? if so, how about sheith on a road trip? ^_^ "**_

 _ **I probably should have warned her I'm bad at straight fluff.**_

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According to the shows Keith had watched when he was young, normal people took road trips in cars. They'd keep their windows rolled up and bicker over radio stations. They'd play boring license plate games and resort to napping just to get away from each other. Keith had never understood why families would go through something that was so obviously misery inducing, but he'd always kind of wished someone had wanted him enough to take him on one anyways. It was a stupid desire originating from the stupid parts of him. The parts of him that had always watched the sitcoms and their mortifying hijinks and thought that all that arguing and embarrassment would be worth it if at the end of the day he also got the 'Ah look they really love each other' moment too. He'd done his level best to stamp those parts down. You couldn't be disappointed if you didn't want something in the first place after all, but apparently his best wasn't good enough.

Shiro had smiled while he described how much he'd like Keith to meet his family, to try his mother's cooking, and let Shiro show him off to his Grandmother. Asked him to drive up with him, so they could spend some alone time sight seeing on the way. He asked it like it was the most obvious thing in the world that he wanted to do it with Keith. Keith had tried to object, brought up every reason he could think of why the trip was dumb, but like always Shiro countered them all and just stood strong until Keith's defenses crumpled like a wet paper bag. He could never deny himself anything when it came to Shiro.

—

Thankfully, Shiro didn't road trip like normal people. Keith didn't know if this was always how he traveled on long trips or if he'd changed his plans just because most of Keith's objections had revolved around being cooped up in a car, but Shiro had eschewed a four seater in favor of his hover bike. It settled a part of him to have the roar of the bike's engines between his legs and Shiro at his back or front. The bike might technically have belonged to Shiro, but it was theirs more than anything. It was short trips into town for milkshakes, when they needed a break from studying, and long drives through the desert to celebrate a test done or just to be. Him and Shiro, together. It was a much needed touchstone of familiarity in a trip full of uncertainty and unknowns.

Right now, Shiro was driving. They'd been taking turns. Whenever one of them got tired, they'd stop to stretch their legs for a bit before switching off and continuing. It probably said something about him, though he didn't know what, but Keith preferred it when he was the one in front. He liked being the one in control. Deciding how fast they sped down the straight aways and how sharp they took the turns. Shiro's warmth at his back and occasionally wandering hands were just a bonus. Not to say riding behind Shiro was all bad. Being able to wrap his arms around Shiro's middle and close his eyes, trust someone to make sure he'd be okay no matter how much he relaxed himself into the feeling was a heady sorta feeling all on its own.

Keith was drifting, reveling in the feeling, when the bike began to slow. He may not have been paying the closest attention, but it was way to soon for them to switch off again. Shiro seemed to like driving almost as much as he did -now that he though about it, it was probably a trait of being a pilot-. He wouldn't want to trade so soon.

Keith opened his eyes and carefully leaned around Shiro's back to see where they were stopping. When he saw the rest stop sign, he didn't even try to hide his laughter. It seems that he'd been right at lunch. He told Shiro that he was going to regret not going to the restroom. Teach him not to listen.

Shiro picked a parking spot and killed the engine. Keith had his helmet off first, "Told ya so" He said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, you were right, I was wrong," Shiro replied, giving him a quick peck on the forehead before swinging off the bike, "Be right back, babe."

Keith was grateful that Shiro was in too much of a hurry to see him blush. It was dumb, they'd been dating for months, but the casual way that Shiro reminded him that his feelings were returned still caught him off guard. He didn't think he'd ever fully get used to the fact that Shiro didn't mind people knowing they were together. Keith wasn't an embarrassment to him. He actually wanted to introduce him to his family. It was something completely new, and Keith was going to hoard every glorious second of it…as soon as Shiro got back from the bathroom.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he should probably take the chance to walk around a bit. They still had a few more hours of driving ahead of them today. Hopping down, Keith stretched up on to his toes and really looked around. There was a pavilion not fifty feet away, a small family gathered under it eating a late lunch. There and back should give Shiro enough time to get out, then they could be on their way again.

The scenery was less than spectacular to put it mildly. It was the same thick trees they'd been passing for the last hour. Wasn't even any interesting wild life to look at. Just a cheeky squirrel nibbling on something beside the trash can not five feet away from where the family was sitting. They were mildly more interesting to look at than the squirrel. Two parents, two kids, similar brown hair, similar skin tone. Everyone related to each other apparently, perfect nuclear family. Shiro's family was going to look like that. He'd described them to Keith late at night when he was feeling homesick. His parents had been happily married for twenty-one years. Shiro was their oldest and he had four younger siblings, three sisters and one brother. His grandmother had moved in with them after his grandfather died.

When Shiro always described them with longing in his voice, Keith had heard enough about them he could imagine what they were like. Their celebrations and traditions, how they were always happy to see Shiro when he came home. Soon, he wasn't going to have to imagine. He was going to meet them tomorrow morning. For the first time, they were going to meet face to face. It was…It was…It was absolutely terrifying.

God, why had he let Shiro talk him into this. He wasn't take home to meet the parents materials. Families didn't like him. Sure Shiro liked him, but Shiro's family was going to find a thousand faults with him. He was going to mess up in front of them, say something snide when he should laugh politely and they were going to hate him. He needed to tell Shiro this was a mistake. They needed to call this off, he could fake that he came down with something. If they didn't meet him they couldn't dislike him. They could just imagine Keith was a nice normal boyfriend that they'd be happy was dating their son.

"Babe?" Shiro's voice was unexpected, "You okay?"

Keith whirled around to face him. Shiro was looking down at him, slightly concerned. He didn't stop to think, he just needed to get out of this now, "I changed my mind." He said quickly, "You need to drop me off at the next town with a bus stop. I'm heading back to the garrison."

"Woah, wait, what?" Shiro's face went from concern to confusion to full on worry in the span of a second, "What happened? I was only in the bathroom a few minutes. Where is this coming from?"

"This was a bad idea." Keith couldn't meet Shiro's eyes. He couldn't even bow out gracefully. He had to wait until they were nearly there to realize what an awful idea this was. He had to stare at his chest while he talked. "I shouldn't have let you talk me into coming. You can still go see your family. I just shouldn't go with you."

"Keith, hun, no." Keith felt Shiro's hands on his shoulder and face as he spoke. "Of course you should go with me. Come here," Shiro pulled him into a hug, "just tell me what's wrong. We can figure this out."

"It's stupid." Keith mumbled into his chest, and it was stupid. It was true, but it was stupid. Shiro would pick it to pieces if he said it out loud.

"If it bothers you it isn't stupid." Keith could here the earnestness in Shiro's voice, because of course he could. Shiro believed everything he said about Keith.

Keith sighed, then pulled a bit away. Shiro was staring at him. He could feel it. He'd wait for an answer as long as he needed to. "They aren't going to like me." It sounded ten time stupider, when he said it out loud.

"Of course they are going to like you." Shiro's response was instantaneous, and when Keith stared at his feet instead of responding, he reached out pulled his chin up, "No stop, look at me. I like you. They raised me and I like you, so they are going to like you."

"That's not how that works."

"Really, gone home to a lot of boyfriend's houses have you?" He thinks that was supposed to be a joke, "They'll like you, babe. I promise they will like you."

Keith wanted to believe him but, "You can't promise that."

"I can promise that because its true." And that was what Keith loved about Shiro. He never doubted Keith was worth something. It was just a fact of his universe, "Look, if you want we can call this off."

He wanted to. He really wanted to run back to the garrison and hide, but he could see the sadness in Shiro's eyes already. He'd been looking forward to this, and he'd hide it well but he'd be disappointed if he missed his chance to have Keith meet his family, "No, no I'll be fine." Then with a tiny laugh, "Told you it was stupid."

"Still don't think it stupid." Shiro said.

It wasn't worth arguing over, "Let's just go okay."

"Alright," He could see that Shiro didn't actually want to let it go, but he wouldn't push, "you want to drive. I'm getting a little tired."

"Yeah, I'd like that." He made it a few steps towards the bike, before thinking better of ending the whatever it was that way. He turned back and gave Shiro his best smile, "Hey Shiro, you know I love you."

Shiro smiled back at him, "Love you too, Babe."

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 _ **End Note:**_

 _ **I'm still taking sheith prompts, but try to make it small. I'm probably not going to go over 2000 with any of these.**_


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